CONVERSATION STARTER

The CharmBadge from Los Angeles-based Charmed Technology is a computerized event badge that allows conference and event attendees to exchange contact information just by coming into range of one another. The badge features four green LEDs, which display the affinity the wearers have for each other based upon responses they gave to a pre-event survey — the more responses they have in common, the more lights will glow. After the event, the stored contact information is downloaded to a secure Web site, where attendees can access the information for later use. For more information visit www.charmed.com.